Türkiye in UNESCO heritage committee for four-year term

ANKARA

Türkiye has been elected as a member of the United Nations' cultural agency's World Heritage Committee for a four-year term, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced.

With this newfound membership, Türkiye, throughout the four-year tenure, will play a key role in the decision-making process concerning candidates for the World Heritage list during the annual meetings of the committee, the executive body of the World Heritage Convention.

The elections took place at the 24th Session of the General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention held in Paris on Nov. 22.

Türkiye received the highest number of votes with 137 votes in the vacant seat category for which it was nominated.

“The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which is responsible for promoting cultural and natural assets with universal values that are considered as the common heritage of all humanity, raising awareness in societies to protect these assets, and taking the necessary measures to preserve the cultural and natural values that have deteriorated for various reasons, manages the work related to the World Heritage List, where 21 sites from Türkiye are also registered,” said a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Türkiye has served twice before at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for the 1983-1989 and 2013-2017 terms, the statement reminded, adding that the country aims to use its experience and knowledge that it has accumulated in the management and protection of 21 world heritage sites which represent all civilizations that have existed in Anatolia since the Neolithic era.

Türkiye’s cultural authorities have recently geared up their efforts both to preserve its history’s centuries-old heritage and to return smuggled artifacts to the country. The Culture and Tourism Ministry managed to bring more than 3,000 smuggled assets to the country this year alone.

Similarly, an exhibition titled “No Way Out” featured nearly 900 artifacts that have been returned to Türkiye from various countries. Within the scope of the UNESCO International Day Against Trafficking in Cultural Objects, cultural assets of Anatolian origin returned to Türkiye from abroad and the ones recovered and restored in the country can be seen at the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in the capital Ankara for one month.

The artifacts on display include the Heracles statue, found in Heathrow Airport and returned from London; the fourth-century golden crown, originating from the Western Anatolian Civilizations and returned from Scotland; and various gold plates, golden spoons, coins, ornaments and bronze mirrors returned from Croatia and Hungary.